Two Men and a Beer: Happy creates a documentary series for Haywards 5000

The documentary traces Benjamin Hayward across India, tracing the origins and heritage of the brand founded by his grandfatherETBrandEquity | Updated: October 01, 2016, 10:28 IST

When Benjamin Hayward, the great-grandson of Sir Anthony Hayward, after whom the brand is named, wrote to SABMiller India requesting an internship, little did he know what he would uncover. SABMiller India announced the release of a five-part documentary series that traces the history and legacy of the Haywards brand. The video series titled ‘Two Men and a Beer’ follows Ben Hayward across India, tracing the origins and heritage of the brand founded by his grandfather. Hayward, a resident of Birmingham in England, chanced upon a BBC report on Haywards 5000. After a little enquiry, he began his internship which took him across the country to retrace the brand’s steps and uncover some of its past.

The documentary series, conceptualised by Happy Creative Services in Bangalore, records his journey across 5 cities using interviews, factory tours, and heritage visits to tell the story of the roots and evolution of Haywards 5000.

The series was first released on TVF Play and then on Facebook and YouTube.

Speaking on the project, Ben Hayward said: ‘’I am delighted to learn that Haywards is one of India’s most reputed beer brands. As I spent time understanding tracing my family’s journey, I felt very proud of my legacy. It was such a fantastic experience to travel around India exploring the heritage of the Haywards 5000 brand. The journey gave me an appreciation for the sheer size of both the country and scope of the brand; and I particularly enjoyed meeting the many people that brew, distribute and enjoy the beer on a daily basis. It was a really special trip that enabled me to see, first hand, the legacy that my great grandfather has left in a country he loved so much"

Commissioned by Happy Creative Services, a filming unit followed Ben on his journey and created a travelogue outlining his discoveries. Kartik Iyer, co-founder and CEO, Happy Creative Services said: “There is nothing more powerful and inspiring than a true story. When we heard that Ben Hayward saw a BBC documentary about the iconic Indian beer Haywards 5000 sitting in Birmingham and realised it was started by his grandfather, it actually prompted him to apply for an internship at SAB MIller - the parent company in India. We knew right then it was a fabulous opportunity to document Ben's journey to trace the actual roots of the brand and his family. It’s not every day such things happen. This journey goes beyond an advertising idea or a content opportunity. It is the true story of a great Indian beer, its founder and the family pride of a young man from England. Two Men and a Beer is easily one of the most exciting projects we have worked on as an agency. It has history, transcends geography and gave us the opportunity to create visual literature. It is a story that deserves to be told, so it can live on forever.

Ankit Mehrotra, the filmmaker leading the unit added:“The brand Haywards to me was mostly about the unforgettable advertising campaign from the 90s. I grew up imagining it to be a sort of a super-drink! So when I landed up in Goa to begin filming with the real Haywards (Ben, Charlotte and Simon) I expected to discover stories of machismo forming the backdrop of its inception. As the days unfolded it became clear that there was certainly a lot of courage involved, but of a very different kind. Today that entrepreneurial spirit has led to good things in the form of the Hausla Buland Academy and this too was a pleasant revelation. As we crisscrossed the country putting together pieces of the Haywards narrative a picture of a brand with a foreign sounding name entrenched in Indian-ness began to emerge.”

TVF Play, an entertainment platform, hosted the documentary to offer a wider reach to its intended audience. Tarun Tripathi, leading the Brand Awareness wing said: "Haywards 5000 is pretty much the first beer brand India saw on TV - the iconic ad campaign lives on in our memories. Even though the brand was born abroad, for a lot of people, it has a very Indian legacy. We are glad SABMiller reached out to us to help tell this amazing story. This is the next step in TVF Play's evolution as the go-to platform for great content that is inherently Indian."